And if so, Where is he and what is he up to? God is where He has always been and He is doing what He has always done. He is looking for you. God has been trying to connect with you long before you pondered the question of His existence. The truth is, you have been experiencing the negative consequences of alienation from God all your life. Every person who exists outside of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is suffering from the “absence of God syndrome,”which displays itself in fear, guilt, and loneliness. Those who have not experienced the forgiveness of God are doomed to wander through time cut off from the vital life that only God can give.

Where is God? He is nearer to you that you can possibly imagine. You and I are no different than Adam and Eve, who, after disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, experienced fear, guilt, and alienation from God for the first time in their lives. They ran and hid themselves from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 3:1-13). God came looking for them, but they were hiding in the trees, afraid to speak to Him. However, God loved His creation and knew that something must be done if the fellowship between them was to be restored. God looked for them; they certainly were not looking for God. In the same way, God has been searching for you all your life and to love you and have a relationship with you. The Bible teaches us that God is very near to each of us. In the book of Acts it is recorded that He is “not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being”(Acts 17: 27-28).

Do I have any real value? Not only do you have a reason for your life on this planet, but you also are a very unique and valuable person. You are a precise individual, tailor-made by the great Designer. You are God’s special creation.

Before you were formed in the womb, the Bible tells us that God was already involved in the shaping of your life. Here is what the Bible says, “thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them”(Psalm 139:13-14, 16). God made you who you are. You are not a product of some random evolutionary process. Think it through there are billions of people on this planet and you are the only one with your fingerprints and DNA structure. Furthermore, if the DNA strands from your body were stretched out in sequence, they would reach to the sun and back (93 million miles) 400 times. You are a complex, unique individual, made in the image of God!

When Jesus Christ was on this earth 2,000 years ago, He prayed to God the Father, “that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast love me”(John 17:23). The Son of God wanted you to know that God the Father wants to love you just like He loves His own Son. That’s amazing and it makes you very special.

And why do bad experiences happen to me? Life is full of trouble and there are days of heartache. That’s a fact. Life is painful. For some people it seems as if each day is like being in a torture chamber it is agonizing. If we dwell on the injustices of life, it will eventually lead us to bitterness. One of the reasons many of us struggle with the question of “Why is life so unfair? Is because we do not understand that this earth is not the land of the living, it is the land of the dying. All around us there is disease, death, and sadness. The Bible teaches us that we live on a planet that is suffering from the after-effects of sin. When you understand this, it changes your perspective about life and things begin to make sense. You realize that this life is simply the proving ground that is preparing you for life in eternity.

Yes, life is short and unfair, yet the Bible tells us that God loves us and wants to share His love with us for all of eternity. The Bible puts it this way, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together, with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”(Ephesians 2:4-7). If you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, then what you have in this life is not what you get. God has a wonderful plan to make all the injustices you have experienced in this life right. In God’s eternal kingdom there will be no more suffering and pain. You will experience life the way God really intended it to be. The Bible records these words about the end of all suffering, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away”(Revelation 21:4). Life is brief and painful, but eternity in Heaven never ends and there are no bad experiences there.

And why don’t I have any real friends? Making genuine friends is one of the real struggles in life. Why are friends so fleeting? Why do I feel so alone most of the time? In answer to that question, the Bible clearly states that God invites us to become His friend through the sacrifice of His own Son. John’s gospel says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you”(John 15:13-15).

God never intended for you to be lonely or isolated from others. Just the opposite is true. God invites you to discover the end of all loneliness in a personal relationship with Him. When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you become part of God’s family of believers all over the world. He calls you into the community with all Christians. This community of genuine friendships is based on respect, love, and forgiveness which is what our relationship with God is based upon. God offers His all-encompassing love to all who know Him as personal Savior and Lord. The Bible says, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee”(Jeremiah 31:3b).

My actions tend to betray my intentions! If you are honest, you will admit that you have suffered personal failures. If you say you haven’t, you are only fooling yourself. Every human being does the wrong thing at times, even though he fully intended to do the right thing. Why do you say things that hurt others and do things that damage your credibility and integrity? The Bible gives us clear guidance on this subject. You cannot do what you know you should because you were born with a sin nature. The Bible says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”(Romans 5:12). The sinful nature which you inherited is what qualifies you as a member of the human race, but it also means you need a Savior. Jesus Christ came to give you the ability to overcome your tendency to sin.

When a person receives Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he receives a new nature. The Bible tells us, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust”(II Peter 1:4). This new nature is God living in you. The new nature is spiritual, but you still have your old nature, which is fleshly: it still wants to do the wrong thing. However, now you have a choice. You can choose to follow God’s way and experience life and peace to its extreme fullest. The Bible puts it this way, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”(Romans 8:6). This does not mean that you will become perfect. It does mean that after you receive Jesus Christ as Savior, you have the God-given ability to do what is right. The conflict is still there, but the divine nature of God is also there to empower and guide you.

What about my future? Where will I go when I die? Where do people go when they die? Do they just cease to exist? Do humans possess a soul that will live on forever? People like yourself wonder about these questions every day. The truth is you are a living soul and God has devised a plan whereby you can spend your eternity with Him in the life to come. This plan involves your decision to believe in Jesus Christ with all of your heart and soul. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die”(John 11: 25-26). Jesus made it very clear that there are not numerous ways to get to Heaven, but only one way, He is the way. The Bible records Jesus’ words this way, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”(John 14:6).
God is offering you eternal life. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”(John3:16). God loves you! In fact, He loves you so much that His only Son, Jesus, died on a Roman cross to pay for your sin debt, was buried in a tomb for three days, and came to life again on the third day, proving His power over death. Death no longer reigns because of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that sin (disobedience to God’s will) has separated us from God and condemned us to Hell. However, God offers eternal life to us as a free gift through Jesus Christ. The Bible puts it this way, “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”(Romans 6:23).

Does this make sense to you? If it does, wouldn’t you like to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If you are willing to put your faith in Jesus Christ and receive Him as your own personal Lord and Savior, you need to pray. The Bible says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”(Romans 10:13).

Why not tell God right now, in your own words, that you are sorry for your sin and that you believe Jesus Christ died for you and rose from the grave. Tell God that you are receiving Him right now as your personal Savior; you accept His forgiveness from sin and by faith receive the eternal life He has provided for you. Tell God you want Him to be your leader and the Lord of your life. Tell Him that you are willing to surrender your life to Him and follow His leadership.

If you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, death and sin will no longer reign and you will live forever in heaven.